"... we are always harking back to some occasion which seemed to us to reach perfection, setting that up as a norm, and depreciating all other occasions by comparison. But these other occasions, I now suspect, are often full of their own new blessing, if only we would lay ourselves open to it. " (C. S. Lewis)



Monday, October 25, 2010

~ The Artist's Greatest Work

Yesterday, I had lunch with this Jewish man and two former skin heads.

He spoke of how he met his Messiah - Jesus.

He shared that his uncle was targeted for termination in Nazi Germany but escaped the country just in time.

Just a few seats away, the young couple sat with the remnants of their past hidden - the tattoos that spoke of hatred and superiority. I don't see the marks, but I know they are there.

I knew them when they still shaved their heads, got into fights and wore their boots like a badge of honor.

I knew them when they first met their Messiah - Jesus.

She summarized their story for him in just a few words.


"We used to be skin heads - really into the "Nazi" scene. Now we're preparing for ministry."

And just when the shock of the moment hit me (the Jew sitting with the Jew-hater), I saw it - pouring out from under his shirt sleeve down his arm, spilling onto his hand - the intricately detailed cross that now speaks of redemption and humility and love, perhaps one of the artist's most beautiful works.

The cross transformed their lives - all of them. It was the blood pouring down His arm spilling onto His hand, washing them clean. The Artist's most beautiful work.

The Jew who wanted to become a lawyer became a pastor instead.

The young boy and girl looking for a place to fit in and be accepted finally found their place and their acceptance in Him.

Yesterday, they sat together.

They ate together.

They encouraged one another.

And it's all because of grace, because the Artist is capable of making anything beautiful.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

~ The Thrill of the Ride



When you experience the vastness of God's amazing creation for the 1st time...


the power in just a single ocean wave...


the thrill of the ride as you let go and let Him take you all the way...



Your heart can't help but praise!



For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name.

Isaiah 51:15 NIV

(Just a few shots from our recent trip to South Carolina's Myrtle Beach. More coming soon.)

Monday, October 11, 2010

~ When You Just Don't Have Answers

There's a box on my piano.

It's an old, wooden cheese box.

(Appropriate decor for someone who lives in the dairy state, right?)


It's old.

The cracks on the top have separated over the years, and the wood has splintered off in places.

I don't know how a person used it back in the day.

I don't know who made it or where it came from.

(I don't even remember where I bought it!)

It's a mystery to me.


It's symbolic really, this "mystery box", 'cause it's where I put all the mysteries in my life:

the tough questions,

the unfulfilled longings,

the inexplicable tragedies,

the gnawings that threaten to derail my faith,

and the baffling "out-of-the-blue" "where'd that come from" gifts God has lavished on my life (you know, the one's that leave you saying, "But I don't deserve this!")

Today, I added these words to my mystery box:


I Have Cancer. And God Is Good.

They are not my words.

These words are the title of a blog entry I read last Thursday.

They are mysterious words (beyond my understanding).

They are sobering words,

But they are true words (every one of them).

These seven little words speak volumes.

They speak candidness.

They speak determination.

They speak experience.

They speak courage.

They speak trust.

They speak of the absolute lavishing kind of love God pours out on us in the worst of circumstances.

They are the words of my friend Sara who just found out she has lung cancer.

Please, go read her words.

They are vulnerable.

Thay are raw.

And they are drenched in His goodness!

You can read Sara's story here and you can go here to follow as all her drippings of grace spill over onto us.


And please, if you've experienced God's goodness in your life, join me in praying that Sara and her family will know it in every moment of this battle.